Tim Cahill is now back in his homeland after spells in the US and China, plying his trade with Melbourne City. Last night, they lined up against cross-city rivals Melbourne Victory. He had already scored twice in the three previous meetings this season, including a 4-1 thumping by City at the Etihad Stadium (not that one) in a league game.
So he would've been pretty useful coming off the bench for them last night. That is, if he had been allowed onto the pitch.
City had taken the lead in the 70th minute but two quickfire goals from Victory gave them the advantage with 87 minutes on the clock. The goal which put Victory ahead was controversial with the referee overruling the linesman's original decision that it should be disallowed due to offside.
Unsurprisingly, this did not go down well on the Melbourne City sidelines - especially with Tim Cahill. The striker was about to be brought onto the pitch before Victory scored and his protestations at the lead goal went a little bit too far. At least, that's what referee Chris Beath thought. He took the 'rugby line' and brandished a red card, presumably for dissent. Cahill was off before he was even on.
We can only imagine what Cahill said to the fourth official. Clearly it was worthy of dismissal though. Victory would hold on against the ten eleven men of City to cut the gap between them and Sydney at the top of the table to nine points.
You can see the full highlights of the game (including the controversial Victory winner) below.
